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Flutter (software)

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Flutter
Original author(s)Google
Developer(s)Google and community
Initial releaseAlpha (v0.0.6) / May 12, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-05-12)[1]
Stable release
3.24.5[2]  / 13 November 2024; 5 days ago (13 November 2024)
Repository
Written inC, C++, Dart[3]
PlatformAndroid, iOS, Google Fuchsia, Web platform, Linux, macOS and Windows
TypeApplication framework
LicenseNew BSD License
Websiteflutter.dev

Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google. It can be used to develop cross platform applications from a single codebase for the web,[4] Fuchsia, Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows.[5] First described in 2015,[6][7] Flutter was released in May 2017. Flutter is used internally by Google in apps such as Google Pay[8][9] and Google Earth[10][11] as well as other software developers including ByteDance[12][13] and Alibaba.[14][15]

Flutter ships applications with its own rendering engine which directly outputs pixel data to the screen.[16][17] This is in contrast to many other UI frameworks that rely on the target platform to provide a rendering engine, such as native Android apps which rely on the device-level Android SDK or React Native which dynamically uses the target platform's built-in UI stack. Flutter's control of its rendering pipeline simplifies multi-platform support as identical UI code can be used for all target platforms.[17]

Architecture

The basic component in a Flutter program is a "widget", which can in turn consist of other widgets.[18] A widget describes the logic, interaction, and design of a UI element with an implementation similar to React.[18] Unlike other cross-platform toolkits such as React Native and Xamarin which draw widgets using native platform components, Flutter renders widgets itself on a per-pixel basis. Flutter has two types of widgets: stateless and stateful. Stateless widgets only update if their inputs change, meaning they otherwise won't need to be rebuilt when other elements of the screen change, while stateful widgets can call the setState() method to update an internal state and redraw.[18][19] Although widgets are the primary method of constructing Flutter applications, they can also be bypassed in favor of directly drawing on a canvas. This feature has been occasionally used to implement game engines in Flutter.[20]

The Flutter framework contains two sets of widgets that conform to specific design languages: Material Design widgets implement Google's design language of the same name, and Cupertino widgets implement Apple's iOS Human interface guidelines.[21][22] Flutter allows the developer to use either set of widgets on either platform. Developers can use Cupertino widgets on Android.

Flutter apps are written in the Dart language. Release versions of Flutter apps on all platforms use ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation[23] except for on the Web where code is transpiled to JavaScript or WebAssembly.[24][25] Flutter inherits Dart's Pub package manager and software repository, which allows users to publish and use custom packages as well as Flutter-specific plugins.[26] The Foundation library, written in Dart, provides basic classes and functions that are used to construct applications using Flutter, such as APIs to communicate with the engine.[22][27]

Flutter's engine, written primarily in C++, provides low-level rendering support using either Google's Skia graphics library or the custom "Impeller" graphics layer, which is enabled by default on iOS and is in beta on Android.[28][29][30] The engine interfaces with platform-specific SDKs such as those provided by Android and iOS to implement features like accessibility, file and network I/O, native plugin support, etc.[22]

History

The first version of Flutter was known as "Sky" and ran on the Android operating system.[31] It was unveiled at the 2015 Dart developer summit with the stated intent of being able to render consistently at 120 frames per second.[31] On December 4, 2018, Flutter 1.0 was released at the Flutter conference in London.[32]

On May 6, 2020, the Dart software development kit (SDK) version 2.8 and Flutter 1.17.0 were released, adding support for the Metal API.[33]

On March 3, 2021, Google released Flutter 2 during an online Flutter Engage event.[8][34] It added a Canvas-based renderer for web in addition to the HTML-based renderer and early-access desktop application support for Windows, macOS, and Linux.[34][8] It also shipped with Dart 2.0 which included support for null-safety.[8][35] Null safety was initially optional as it was a breaking change and was made mandatory in dart 3 released in 2023.[35][36]

On May 12, 2022, Flutter 3 and Dart 2.17 were released with support for all desktop platforms as stable.[37]

On October 27, 2024, a number of Flutter community developers announced Flock, a fork of Flutter intended to be easier to contribute to while still keeping in sync with all changes made in the upstream code base.[38][39]

See also

References

  1. ^ Chris Bracken. "Release v0.0.6: Rev alpha branch version to 0.0.6, flutter 0.0.26 (#10010) · flutter/flutter". GitHub. Archived from the original on 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  2. ^ https://github.com/flutter/flutter/releases/tag/3.24.5. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ "FAQ - Flutter". Archived from the original on 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  4. ^ Amadeo, Ron (2018-02-27). "Google starts a push for cross-platform app development with Flutter SDK". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-10-08. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  5. ^ Amadeo, Ron (8 May 2017). "Google's "Fuchsia" smartphone OS dumps Linux, has a wild new UI". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  6. ^ "With Flutter, Google Aims Dart to Mobile App Cross-Development". InfoQ. Archived from the original on 2022-04-28. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  7. ^ "Google announces Flutter 1.0, the first stable release of its cross-platform mobile development toolkit". Android Police. 2018-12-05. Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  8. ^ a b c d Claburn, Thomas (3 Mar 2021). "Google's multi-platform app framework Flutter reaches version 2, expands to the web". theregister.com.
  9. ^ "Going global at Google Pay with Flutter". Archived from the original on 2024-03-31. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  10. ^ Schoon, Ben (September 26, 2023). "Google Earth gets a redesigned Android app with Projects support, removes Voyager". 9to5google.com.
  11. ^ "Check out the new @googleearth for iOS, Android, and web with UI built using Flutter, all from a single codebase". Archived from the original on 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  12. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (11 May 2022). "Google's Flutter 3 adds support for macOS and Linux desktop apps". TechCrunch. On the mobile side, companies like WeChat, ByteDance, Betterment, SHEIN and BMW are now betting on Flutter — as does Google itself.
  13. ^ "Increasing productivity by 33% at ByteDance with Flutter". Archived from the original on 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  14. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (4 December 2018). "Google's cross-platform Flutter UI toolkit hits version 1.0". TechCrunch.
  15. ^ "Alibaba scales China's largest second-hand marketplace with Flutter". Archived from the original on 2024-03-30. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  16. ^ "Flutter architectural overview". docs.flutter.dev. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  17. ^ a b Claburn, Thomas (12 Nov 2021). "Apps made with Google's Flutter may fritter away CPU cycles. Here's what the web giant intends to do about it". theregister.com. It does so by relying heavily on Skia, a graphics-rendering engine written in C/C++ that uses a device's CPU or GPU to draw app interfaces on its own, without relying on native platform interface libraries.
  18. ^ a b c Windmill, Eric; Rischpater, Ray (2020). Flutter in action. Shelter Island, NY: Manning Publications Co. pp. 12, 16. ISBN 9781617296147.
  19. ^ "Introduction to widgets". docs.flutter.dev. Archived from the original on 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  20. ^ "Flame". flame-engine.org. Archived from the original on 2022-09-27. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  21. ^ Anderson, Tim (5 Aug 2020). "Google reports 80% spike of Flutter-built apps in Play Store as 1.20 is released". theregister.com. In general the design style follows Google's Material Design guidelines, making it particularly at home on Android (as you would expect from Google), but there is also support for Cupertino widgets for a native iOS look and feel.
  22. ^ a b c "Technical Overview - Flutter". flutter.dev. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
  23. ^ stephenwzl (2018-08-01). "Flutter's Compilation Patterns". ProAndroidDev. Archived from the original on 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  24. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (25 January 2023). "Google's Flutter showcases new graphics capabilities, WebAssembly and RISC-V support". TechCrunch.
  25. ^ Thomsen, Michael (2024-05-14). "Landing Flutter 3.22 and Dart 3.4 at Google I/O 2024". Flutter. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  26. ^ "Using packages". docs.flutter.dev. Archived from the original on 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  27. ^ "foundation library - Dart API". docs.flutter.dev. Archived from the original on 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
  28. ^ "Flutter architectural overview". docs.flutter.dev. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  29. ^ "Impeller rendering engine". docs.flutter.dev. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
  30. ^ Bradshaw, Kyle (January 25, 2023). "Google releases Flutter 3.7, teases future of app development framework". 9to5google.com.
  31. ^ a b Amadeo, Ron (1 May 2015). "Google's Dart language on Android aims for Java-free, 120 FPS apps". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  32. ^ Amadeo, Ron (4 December 2018). "Google bridges Android and iOS development with Flutter 1.0". Ars Technica.
  33. ^ Siddiqui, Aamir (6 May 2020). "Google releases Flutter 1.17 and Dart 2.8 stable SDKs for app development". XDA. Flutter now uses Metal by default when building for supported iOS devices, making Flutter apps run faster.
  34. ^ a b Lardinois, Frederic (3 March 2021). "Version 2 of Google's Flutter toolkit adds support for desktop and web apps". TechCrunch.
  35. ^ a b Wander, Zachary (3 March 2021). "Dart 2.12 has been released, with null-safety and C interoperability". XDA.
  36. ^ Claburn, Thomas (9 Dec 2022). "Google's Dart language soon won't take null for an answer". theregister.com.
  37. ^ Claburn, Thomas (11 May 2022). "Google's Flutter app development framework now stable across platforms". theregister.com.
  38. ^ Larabel, Michael (29 October 2024). "Google's Flutter UI Toolkit Forked As Flock". phoronix.com. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  39. ^ Krill, Paul. "Google's Flutter framework has been forked". InfoWorld.
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